


A Way To Know That All I See Is Real

by Snow



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-03
Updated: 2010-08-03
Packaged: 2017-10-10 22:16:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/104953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snow/pseuds/Snow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sherlock declared himself to be married to his work, John couldn't help finding the idea patently ridiculous.  Even in the army, no one wanted their work to be their everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Way To Know That All I See Is Real

**Author's Note:**

> Betaed by the lovely wrabbit. Any remaining errors or difficulties are solely the result of me.

When Sherlock declared himself to be married to his work, John couldn't help finding the idea patently ridiculous. Even in the army, no one _wanted_ their work to be their everything. Not when there was any other option.

John had been busy enough trying to decipher the puzzle that was Sherlock that he almost forgot to make it clear that he hadn't been flirting with Sherlock. John had seen the flicker of Sherlock's eyes, Sherlock's thought process at work, and he rather thought that Sherlock seemed uncertain. The idea would seem ridiculous, if John didn't know already that Sherlock didn't have friends. He could have, that much was clear from the way Angelo and Mrs. Hudson treated him. He could have, but he didn't. If John were brilliant like Sherlock, he would be able to make something of that.

If John were like Sherlock, rather than like himself, he would miss the flash of disappointment in Sherlock's eyes when John went overboard saying just how uninterested he was in Sherlock. John had thought that was what Sherlock would want. John was observant enough to notice that he was wrong, not that there was time to think about it once the chase began.

* * *

John might not be as skilled in deduction as Sherlock, nor did he wish to be, but he had a decent memory and understanding of _people_. When Sherlock spoke of Jennifer Wilson as being 'clever' for her ability to have a string of extramarital affairs, John was pretty sure he detected a note of admiration in Sherlock's voice.

It was odd. John had no idea what to make of it at first. He doubted Sherlock was impressed with Jennifer Wilson's concupiscence, her lustfulness, and while he thought it could be an admiration of her ability to compartmentalise he couldn't know.

* * *

"Sometimes people get married too young," John said. They were at another crime scene and he was looking at Anderson, but he was sure Sherlock would pick up on the meaning John intended. There was something about spending time with Sherlock that encouraged a certain indirectness as a way to test the man. John also found that it helped compensate for Sherlock's own too-abrupt manner. "Not that there's an age to be married, but that they simply don't marry for the right reasons because they haven't learnt those yet."

"And what age did Harry and Clara marry?" John was tempted to grin or show some other way that Sherlock was wrong. He did suspect that if he let on that he was pleased Sherlock was wrong that then Sherlock would admit to being deliberately dense just to see how John would react.

"Exactly the right age. It wasn't until a year after their marriage that Harry started to mess up. And here I thought we'd both sworn never to be our father." John loved throwing bones like that to Sherlock, just to see the way Sherlock would fit them into his existing framework of John, rebuild John's whole personality and influences in his head.

Sherlock must have caught something of the fondness in John's voice when he reconsidered the initial comment, because he nodded. "I assure you I considered my position very carefully," he said. "And I'm still flattered, but-"

"Why should you be flattered?" John asked. "I'm not such a good catch as all that." He wasn't quite sure why he said that, apart from some instinct.

Sherlock sighed, but he didn't sound exasperated with John. "People can be so _stupid_. Not you, the people who put such an idea in your head."

"You're attracted to me," John said. He had hoped, but these things were so hard to tell with Sherlock, and he needed it confirmed to know whether or not he was simply annoying the man.

"Of _course_ I'm attracted to you," Sherlock said.

John had expected Sherlock to deny it, and he was prepared to respond to _that_. He definitely hadn't expected the conversation to go like this: with Sherlock's certainty undermining his own. "Then aren't you tempted to act on that? Particularly knowing that it's mutual?"

Sherlock's look seemed to catalogue every atom that made up John's body. "It's a distraction," he said eventually.

John knew the answer to that response already. "And aren't you always looking for those?"

Sherlock tilted his head, and John chose to take that as a concession of the point. It wasn't hard to press his lips to Sherlock's, even less hard to keep them pressed when Anderson noticed and started to jeer. John wasn't sure whether Sherlock deepened the kiss as a response to Anderson or to John, but he also didn't think it mattered. The point was that Sherlock deepened the kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> I welcome and appreciate comments, including constructive criticism.


End file.
